Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-09-26
CHEAP OIL PAINTINGS.
MANUFACTURING "6UCkEYESo AND
pot BOILERS"
Establishments Which Turn oil Paint
iuCs at the Rate Of . Thousand =
week-Rapid Use Of the Stencil Plate.
The Results.

| wsek-Rapid Use Of the Stencil Plate.
The Results.
The law prohibiting the sale OF pictures
by artificial light was passed To prevent
the public from being imposed upon by
the exhibition Of inferior works under cir
cumstances calculated to deceive the
buyer. Great numbers of what the sales
men call genuine oil paintings" have
been put upon the market in Blany ways
| of late wears and although the sale has
| recently fallen off somewhat. the manu-
facture Of them is still a considerable
branch Of industry. The facilities for
their production are ample and the pro-
cesses by which they are furnished at so
low a ' rice are ingenious. There are two
kinds of cheap pictures i'll oil; those pro-
duced in the studios by artists of various
degrees of ability, and those manufactured
in establishments devoted to the business
on a large scale. which turn out dupli-
Gates of an oil painting just as similar
concerns in other branches of industry
turn out hats, coats and shoes Paintings
of the first named class are called pot
boilers from their being rs rule thrown
Off by artists to furnish means to keep
the pot boiling"
DEGREE OF MERIT.
Such works, although generally show
iny evidences Of the haste with which they
are painted, gtten possess a certain degree
of merit fhey are mostly sold in the
auction rooms in the large cities, and
many artists, in the absence Of more lu-
crativef employment, find their chief
source of support by means Of this cl; $
of work. 4 clever artist can paint a T. :
erably attractive canvas in a compara-
lively short time. and although he may
put into it little of the Imagination aud
poetry and careful thought which he
would hestow upon Il work for one of the
regular exhibitions Of the season. his
Technical facility will enable him to make
a salable picture of it. The visitor TO the
smaller auction rooms and art stores will
often find on exhibition pot boilers from
the studios of well known artists. These
have been gathered by the picture dealers.
who are well acquainted with the sources
OF supply and with the worth Of ready
money to the impecunious artist. Some.
times the pictures are sold on account of
the painter; sometimes they have been
bought outright at q low rate by the
auctioneer who offers them at his picture
sales until buyer is found who will pay
L
him a profit.
What are technically known as ''buck-
eyes" are works Of q different class.
These are produced in great numbers at
establishments in several Of the large
cities Girls who have been trained 10
the degree of mechanical skill necessary
for making copy of the picture before
them, or rather that part Of it which is
given them to duplicate, show a remarka-
BILE facility in accomplishing their task.
In some of the workshops the walls are
covered with strips Of canvas, upon which
the copyists are busily at work. One
paints the sky and the distant effects; an-
other follows with the foreground; an
other paints the figures, and still another
finishes the picture. The work is done
| with great rapidity, but the result, rs
might be expected is not pleasing 10 an
artistic eye. Yet the facility attained by
constant practice is such that the rude
copies Of landscape thus produced bear a
1 sufficient resemblance TO the original TO
give them market value as pictures.
One of the largest manufactures of
cheap paintings in this country is in New
York A three story building is devoted
to the business and when the demand
was at its height. a lew gears ago, nearly
| 1000 pictures a week We're turned out.
Some of the processes employed are pc
crlliar to these manufacturers. and the
upper story, which is the studio" or
workshop, is carefully guarded against in
trusion. The doors are kept locked, and
no one except those employed in the es-
tablishmeut is allowed 10 enter.
woEK OF THE STUDIO"
| The first step in the production Of tho
| brilliant landscape in . gilt frame which
\ is to be the subject of the auctiOneer or
| the picture peddler Is the preparation Of
| the canvas. This is done by means of a
| machine which coats a long strip of cot
| ton cloth with u mixture of glue and
! whiting and gives to il something Of the
| firmness and appearance of canvas. The
cloth is then thoroughly dried and is then
ready for the stretcher or inner frame
| The stretchers are produced by an ingcni-
| Gus machine, which shapes, joins and
, fastens them with great rapidity, and by a
| third machine. which is tended by small
| boy of artistic proclivities, the cloth is
quickly fastened upon the stretcher and
made ready for the coming landscape.
Next comes the work of the studio" :"
There one finds a line OF girls. their dresses
| splashed with paint, and their general ap-
| pearance in other respects quite in con-
| trast with the young women at the Art
Students league or the ideal woman art
! ist in well appointed studio. On the
| walls, within easy reach, hang stencils Of
| various patterns which the girls have
learned to use with great rapidity.
The process employed is similar to what
is known as Theorem painting, and also
As Poonah or Oriental painting. BY the
use Of kind of stencil the outlines and
principal figures i'll the landscape are one
after another put upon the cloth, and the
picture then passes into the hands of u
more advanced painter for 'mpletion.
4 few skillful touches with .-er brush
supply the deficiencies left by the Use Of
the stencil, and after plentiful supply
Of varnish and n suitable exposure in the
drying room, the picture is ready for
market The frames are made by ma
chinery in the story below the studio"
They are much thinner than they appear
to BE, but, although so unsubstantial, are
quite ornamental. in design. and after
being covered with a metallic preparation
known 10 the trade as Dutch metal or
Dutch gilt" which closely resembles
gold leaf, but has not a particle Of gold in
its composition, they are dazzling enough
to satisfy the most eXacting purchaser.
So il will be seen that in these genuine
oil paintings the oil which is used is
about the only thing to justify the term.
Little else is genuine. The canvas is
cotton cloth, smeared with glue and whit
ing: the frame, apparently so substantial,
is mere shell, and the shining gliding
has no gold about ii. Yet, like other
shams, the sham oil painting has found a
great many admirers.-New York Mail
and Express.
The Poor in Mexico.
\ Mexican paper says the condition Of